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Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

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Saturday, February 13, 2010

A classic southern cake that usually makes its appearance over the Christmas holidays.

Mama's Red Velvet Cake

This was a traditional Christmas cake around our house growing up and it is as moist as it is pretty. I can barely think of Red Velvet Cake without thinking of my Mama, and it is the Christmas season where my heart gets real heavy on missing her.

I have heard that there is a newer evolution of red velvet cake that substitutes cooking oil for the real butter used in the original cake. I can't imagine why. Why you would want the oily residue of a cooking oil versus the flavor impact and richness of butter is beyond me, though I think it probably has something to do with the mouth feel texture result, which would probably be somewhat similar to a box cake mix that so many people use. If so, then just use the box mix I say! As far as me, I don't know that I'll go messing around with something that I know is delicious and good... and works!

That, of course, brings me to another thing. Over mixing batter and over measuring - two things that often cause the failure of baked goods in a home cook. A lot of us are guilty of the scoop method of measuring - meaning you take your one cup measure and scoop it into the flour bag and shake off anything that tops over. Nothing could be worse in a cake. Scooping causes the flour to compact in the measuring cup and the results are often that you are actually using quite a bit more flour than you intended to. The right way to measure is to spoon into the measuring cup from the bag or canister until the measuring cup is overflowing, then use the straight edge of a knife to level off the top.

The other thing is not being familiar enough with the way your oven bakes. The only way you can know that, is from how often your result matches a recipe, versus having to remove something sooner or bake something longer. You can also use an oven thermometer as a back up to see if your oven temperature match what your thermostat says. Every oven bakes differently and over time and use of your own, you will know how to make adjustments. Always check your cakes first about 5 to 10 minutes out from the earliest recommended cooking time and no sooner. Opening the oven too early will make the oven temperature fluctuate and often results in a cake to fall in the center.

This is a very special cake in my family - and meant to be made from scratch in my opinion. It's my Mama's recipe, and I promise it will be worth every single ounce of energy you put into it, so long as you make it according to the recipe and directions, and don't make any substitutions. I hope that it becomes a special Christmas cake for you.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two 9-inch or three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and a round of parchment paper.

In a mixer bowl, cream together the butter and sugar; add eggs, one at a time and fully incorporate them into the butter mixture. Mix together the cocoa and the food coloring to make a paste; add to the butter mixture.

Sift together the cake flour and salt. Alternate adding the buttermilk and the flour mixture into the mixer at about 1/2 cup at a time. Add vanilla.

Remove mixer bowl from the mixer and move to workspace. In a separate bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda (mixture will foam up a bit); add into the batter. Carefully blend in, but do not beat the batter. Divide mixture evenly between the pans.

Bake at 350 degrees F about 25 to 30 minutes for 8 inch pans, 35 to 40 minutes for 9 inch pans, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to fully cool before frosting. Sprinkle chopped pecans on top if desired.

For the frosting, in a saucepan, whisk together the flour and the milk until blended; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken. Set aside to cool while preparing the cake.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and light. Combine the milk mixture with the butter mixture, add the vanilla, and beat until you reach the texture of whipped cream. Spread on the cooled cake. Sprinkle with chopped pecans, if desired.

Cook's Notes To substitute a gel paste food coloring, use only about 1/2 teaspoon. May also prepare cake in a tube pan (bake about 50-55 minutes), 9 x 13 inch baking pan or cupcakes. For cupcakes, fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and rotate pans halfway through cooking time. Yield will be about 2 dozen. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick returns clean and let cool in pan completely. I use 1-1/2 times the frosting recipe above to have plenty of icing. For a 9 x 13 inch pan, bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 to 35 minutes. Can substitute one (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened at room temperature, for one of the sticks of butter in the frosting.

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I could have written the top part of this post. I cannot think of Red Velvet cake either without thinking of my mom. It is her signature cake. She does not fix it as often since her health has declined but it is so good. Mom's called for some type of mixture to be poured over it after it was baked. It made it so moist. One year my aunt asked for the recipe and it turned out so dry. We found out later that she poured the mixture in before baking it and that is why it didn't turn out like mom's. But since then she can bake them just like her sister. I am enjoying your section on Sunday dinners. Brings back a lot of good memories. Thanks!

I call this frosting "Mystery Frosting" and always use this recipe for my Red Velvet Cake made from scratch. It is just perfect, not to sweet, for this beautiful cake. The only difference in my recipe is I use part butter/part Crisco to keep the frosting snow white. Will never forget my first attempt 40 years ago. I beat the granulated sugar, butter, Crisco forever but couldn't get the grainness to go away. Amazing! Add the cold flour/milk mixture and the sugar grains disappear and you have whipped cream texture. The perfect frosting. By the way, my son's & family have dubed this beautiful cake "The Roll Tide Cake". Home is Alabama but neither son lives in Montgomery or the state of Alabama now. BJ

Could something else be substituted for the 2oz of red food coloring? I know red is the big point of the cake, but if one wanted to avoid it? Maybe I could try Kahlua. . . since the cake calls for cocoa. . .Thanks for the recipe for a real cake. I am looking to avoid mixes!

Mary, this post brought back so many memories. My Mama wasn't much of a baker (I suppose raising seven kids kept her otherwise occupied!). But, every Christmas, my Aunt Jenny made this cake. I used to have her recipe (another hurricane fatality), and when I read your Mama's, I knew I had found it again! This is definitely a "keeper" which I will certainly treasure. This also brought to mind another cake which my aunt made every Christmas, which was a Butternut Cake, flavored with butter nut extract. Would you happen to have a recipe for that as well?? Many thanks & Merry Christmas!!

Mary, this post brought back so many memories. My Mama wasn't much of a baker (I suppose raising seven kids kept her otherwise occupied!). But, every Christmas, my Aunt Jenny made this cake. I used to have her recipe (another hurricane fatality), and when I read your Mama's, I knew I had found it again! This is definitely a "keeper" which I will certainly treasure. This also brought to mind another cake which my aunt made every Christmas, which was a Butternut Cake, flavored with butter nut extract. Would you happen to have a recipe for that as well?? Many thanks & Merry Christmas!!

Hi Mary. This sounds like a great receipe. I think I will try it for the new year. One question: what is the recommended time for cooking using the tube pan. I make a homemade 7up cake and I cook that for 1hr and 15min when I use my tube pan. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Mary, sounds like a really good receipe. I think I may try it for the new year. How long do you recommend cooking the cake in the tube pan? I make a homemade7up cake in my tube pan and I have to cook that for 1hr and 15min @325°. Thanks for sharing.

I just made this cake & my DH says 'really good cake!' I did not want to use the red food coloring so I subbed Kahlua because it would enhance the chocolate flavor as well. I also used evaporated cane juice sugar which is not a fine grained as regular white sugar. However I have read elsewhere that the original 1800s recipe called for brown sugar & no food coloring so maybe this is more authentic. I did not have cake flour so subtracted 2T per cup (1 & 1.2 teaspoons for a 1/4 cup). I think you could just use 2C regular flour & be ok. I had reall buttermilk too. I had never heard of this frosting, apparently it is 'boiled milk frosting' & I used half butter, half cream cheese. Tastes great.

I am into real food & have been wanting to make a cake without a cake mix. This one is awesome! (So is Cold Oven Pound Cake for another option)

Yum! I made a Red Velvet cake for my daughter's wedding a few years back. It was the 'Groom's Cake'. The cake recipe is exactly like this one, but I used a mixture of cream cheese and butter for the frosting. It was SO good! Everyone raved about my Red Velvet cake! Of course, my kitchen looked like I had dismembered a body after I was finished mixing the cake!

My daughter wanted a Red Velvet cake as the 'groom's cake' for her wedding a few years back...so I made her one. Had never made one before in my life! My kitchen looked like I had dismembered a body after I had finished mixing the cake...but, boy, was it worth it! This sounds like the recipe I used, but I used a combination of cream cheese and butter for the frosting. It was a big hit!

Neither! For this cake Mama always used cake flour. Cake flour is lower protein than all purpose and gives a better crumb and a lighter more tender texture versus a chewy texture all purpose gives. You can substitute all purpose with some adjustments, but it's not the same result.

I've never left a comment before, but, I have to warn people. My cake turned out like a brick. I followed this recipe exactly. After looking at other recipes, I think that VEGETABLE OIL might have been omitted from this recipe. It was WAY too thick. Our cake went in the trash.

Nope. Nothing is missing in the recipe, so there is no need to "warn" people about this recipe.

This cake uses butter - most of the heirloom, traditional red velvet cakes do, they don't use cooking oil - so there is no vegetable oil missing in this recipe, and yes, the batter as with most homemade cakes, is not thin and should, in fact, be pretty thick.

I truly don't know what happened for you, but I can assure you the photo here is from this exact recipe here, I've made this many, many times, and I think you can see from that photo, there are no bricks in those layers! In fact, I've had many compliments on this cake, some of which are right here in the comments, and, in case you didn't read the post itself, is the recipe that my mother used for all of my life!

It is a light and airy cake. So sorry your cake didn't work out, but you really cannot fault the recipe and unless I was there with you, it's impossible to pinpoint what could have caused the problem. Baking is an exact science, takes some practice to learn your mistakes so there are so many factors - other than the recipe - that can cause problems with baking, and particularly with baking cakes.

A hard cake could mean you overmixed, which creates a reaction in the gluten and makes for a hard, dense cake. Or, you may have used too much flour. A common mistake in baking is to scoop the measuring cup into the flour, which compacts the flour and increases the amount you actually use. Too much flour will make your cake dense and hard. Did you use cake flour as instructed, or did you substitute all purpose? Cake flour is a lower protein than all purpose and gives a better crumb and a lighter more tender texture versus a chewy and more dense texture all purpose gives. You can substitute all purpose with some adjustments & additions to the recipe, but it's not the same result.

Did you use buttermilk, or did you try to get by with a homemade substitute using vinegar or lemon, because I don't recommend that - for this cake, use real buttermilk. Did you mix together the vinegar and baking soda before adding to the batter? Or did you add them individually instead?

Also, it could be that your oven runs hot and the thermostat is off. That would mean that you actually overcooked your cake and that will definitely make a cake hard! Did you use the right sized pans? Did you check the cake to see if it was done before or at the earliest suggested time?

Are you sure your baking soda was fresh? Did you sufficiently cream the butter and sugar together before adding any other ingredients? Was the butter softened at room temperature as instructed, or was it too warm or even nearly melted?

Did you use large eggs? Were they at room temperature? Did you add the eggs one at a time, so that each would incorporate into the batter before adding the other?

If you are not an experienced baker already, it will take some time to perfect your craft. As you see, there are so many factors - other than a recipe - that can affect the outcome with baking.

Please don't always assume a recipe is at fault when baking and something fails. Just keep baking and learning!

My husband loves red velvet cake so I mad it for his birthday the other day. The cake was excellent and everything tasted great! However the frosting was runny. What did I do or can I do to get it right next time? I wanna keep trying till its perfect because it is his favorite.

Hi Anna! I'm not sure because the cake & icing you see in the photograph is this exact recipe. Here are some possibilities. The flour and milk in the first step has to be cooked until it thickens. If it didn't thicken you may have been a little short on the cooking time in that step. Once that is thick, it has to rest and cool before the next step. Once you beat that milk mixture into the second step with the butter and sugar, you need to beat that until you reach the texture of whipped cream. It should be thick. And last, the cake needs to be completely cool and not at all warm. If the icing ran off after you put it on, that means the cake was still warm. Another option of course is to use the popular cream cheese with powdered sugar icing. It's not traditional but a lot of folks like it. I hope that helps!!

OK I did let the cake cool completely and I did heat the flour and milk until it was about the consistency of paste. Maybe I didn't let it cool enough. I did let it sit a while but didn't check to see if it was completely cooled down. I will have to try this again and let you know! Thank you!

Oh gosh then, if everything was cool, I'm really not sure why it was thin. If you get to the stage of where you whip it and it doesn't whip up thick, I hope that you have better luck the next round, but I don't think it would hurt to include a little bit of sifted powdered sugar to stabilize it, if you find it too thin again.

Cake flour is the best of course, but a common substitute for 1 cup of cake flour is 1 cup of all purpose flour MINUS 2 tablespoons, but replace the 2 tablespoons of flour with cornstarch and whisk together well.

Mary, first of all, I LOVE all of your recipes - they are wonderful and very similar to what I was raised on. Most people, from the South, think red velvet cakes should be iced with cream cheese frosting but those people couldn't have tried this! The cake and icing recipe is almost identical to my Mema's (my late great-grandmother). We use oil instead of butter and add a 1/2 cup of hot coffee to the batter at the end - extremely moist and it enhances the cocoa flavor. The icing has 5 tbs of flour and I use my food processor to finely cut the sugar so there is no grainy texture. I cannot wait to pre-order your cookbook! I'm a huge fan!

I'll have to try the coffee - that sounds interesting! I guess that cream cheese frosting has become popular but that's not what my mama used. It isn't that I don't like it, I do, but for red velvet, I like this one so much better!

I want to say how thankful I am to have come across this recipe...and I haven't even made it yet! After years of baking no one has ever ordered a Red Velvet cake until just today, so I've spent the past four hours sleuthing to find the best authentic recipes. I have a table in a document with five (out of thirty or so) recipes all crammed next to each other for comparison. That's not enough. There is something about a baker reminiscing about her Mama’s or her Grandmama’s real deep south version of heaven on a plate that practically makes me swoon! I can't wait to make it next week and get back to you!

Thank you for sharing this recipe!! I had it for years, a good friend of my Mom's used to make them often (YUMMY) I loved it so much she gave my Mom the recipe, and later my Mom passed it down to me... All of her recipe's were lost in a move :'( I have hunted for this and never found the "RIGHT" one haha so many call it red velvet when its not.. Thank you!! God bless <3

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